Apple may be the only company in the world to incorporate TSMC’s world’s first 3nm chipset on its devices and, even more so, with an immense advantage over the competition, as it secured 90% of shipments from the Taiwanese company.
While Apple’s M3 SoC for future iPad and Mac models has been delayed until next year, the company still has plans to announce the A17 Bionic exclusively for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max in 2023, along with the improvements that come mass-produced on TSMC’s 3nm architecture.
According to a paywall report published by DigiTimes, TSMC is set to grow significantly as a result of Apple’s increased 3nm chip requirements. Previously, TSMC was rumored to be struggling to keep up with Apple’s demand, which could be one of the reasons why the M3 was delayed until next year.
Furthermore, as witnessed on the company’s latest earnings call, iPhones generated more than half of that $94.8 billion in revenue, while both iPad and Mac sales took a dip. In that sense, it makes perfect sense to postpone the M3 in favor of increased production of the A17 Bionic for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The report does not mention the manufacturer’s overall monthly production or how much production will increase in the coming months. However, DigiTimes mentions that TSMC is preparing a more advanced version of its 3nm process called N3E, which is used by companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Unfortunately, mass production of TSMC’s N3Es isn’t expected to start until 2024. As for the N3B, we should see huge power savings from the A17 Bionic, with TSMC claiming it brings about 35% improved efficiency compared to the previous architecture. However, performance differences were not mentioned, but it will be possible to make the comparison from the launch of the iPhone 15, scheduled for the end of the year.